Clamoring for votes in the presidential primaries has reached a fevered pitch, and the candidates are increasingly making mistakes brought on by lack of sleep. With 16- to 18-hour days the norm, chronic sleep deprivation is taking its toll.
Verbal blunders and hoarse voices are common. General Wesley Clark bragged to his staff that he “had not rested for a single day, unlike the other candidates.†But then Clark rapidly proved that lack of sleep impacts even generals — he stated at one campaign stop that he “did not believe Al Qaeda was involved in September 11,†when he meant to say Saddam Hussein, according to an article in The New York Times.